


Honey

by bloodandcream



Series: Ship all the Ships [41]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 18:43:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3988675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodandcream/pseuds/bloodandcream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They set a date for that weekend. Cain lived outside the city but not by too far, as soon as the sprawl of cookie cutter suburbia gave way to fields, he had a small farmhouse that sat on several acres where he tended his beehives and his impressive gardens. Castiel parked on the side of the rutted dirt road and took his time weaving through the sprawling vegetable garden that sat at the front of the house. Cain found him there, watching a ladybug in the lettuce patch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honey

It’s not as though Castiel is a technophobe. Quite the opposite. There are many modern comforts that he fully embraces like medicine, electricity, refrigerators. He may be slow to ‘get with the program’, but he never shuns something for being new technology. 

That being said, Castiel is perhaps still more of a simple man. He’s a practical sort of person. And despite the fact that the vast majority of the developed world owns cell phones, he just didn’t want one. With the fact that they’re mobile and people take them everywhere, they have an increased chance of being broken or lost, unlike landlines. The monthly charges are exorbitant. And at the pace that technology outstrips itself people are constantly upgrading or changing service looking for something better. It makes Castiel anxious to think of having to research and comparison shop the latest batch of cell phones on a semi regular basis to keep up with them.

He likes his landline. It’s simple. It’s all he really needs. Since he changed his plan last year he even gets free nationwide calling and can talk to his brothers on the other coast any time he likes. Of course, since Sam showed him how to set up Skype on his Mac, he could do that anyway without the landline. 

The only thing he dislikes is that since everyone else had cell phones, they tended to favor texting, which a landline was incapable of. His best friends, Dean and Sam, would actually make plans in advance to go out with him instead of simply texting last minute to see who is available. But most other people aren’t so accommodating. It’s not as though he has a very active personal life, but Castiel was feeling increasingly isolated alone in his one bedroom apartment with his cat Augustine. 

Eventually, Sam wore him down and convinced him to get a cell phone. A ‘smart phone’. Sam is good of convincing him of the marvels of technology. He’s very enthusiastic, and it’s contagious. He’s also very patient and wouldn’t make fun of Castiel for being unable to figure out how to actually call someone on his new phone. There’s no numbers pad. 

After he learns what ‘apps’ are, Dean’s first suggestion is to try some dating apps. Admittedly Castiel’s love live is…. well, non existent. And he had to admit that meeting via the internet before meeting face to face was an ever increasing trend. Sam showed him how to use a site called ‘ok cupid’. Dean downloaded an app called ‘grindr’. They were very helpful friends. 

Castiel noticed more of a responsiveness to the profile Dean helped set up on Grindr. There were a lot of vulgar suggestions. He ignored those. He liked to peruse a person’s profile and not just look at their pictures before trying to initiate a chat. There was the requisite physical descriptions and social standing, but also sometimes little interesting tidbits. 

He messaged a gardener about manipulating the pH balance in soil to change the color of one’s hydrangeas. 

He messaged a veteranarian about hypoallergenic cats. 

He messaged a chef about tips on making quiche fluffier. 

There was one profile he found himself returning to several times. A very stern looking older gentleman with graying hair, but Castiel thought he looked distinguished with his thick beard and  sharp blue eyes. He was also a beekeeper. Castiel may have been a little excited at that. He usually had no problem making ‘small talk’ comments that more often than not went ignored, but he found himself having a difficult time thinking what to say to this Cain. In the end, he tapped off something simple and sent it before he could think much about it. 

_Keep up the great work! :)_

Encouraging messages were always nice to receive. Perhaps he should have been more specific. He tried to put it to the back of his mind on his walk home, taking the detour to dawdle through the park and watch the ducks on the pond. After he’d gotten home, watered the plants, fed Augustine, and started a pot of water boiling for pasta he received a message from Cain. 

_Excuse me?_

Ah. He hadn’t been very specific.

_The good work with the beekeeping. The dwindling population of bees is an issue that I’m very concerned with._

The next message came almost immediately. 

_I see. Thank you._

_You’re welcome._

He was a polite gentleman. That was nice. Castiel had a quiet dinner and read an old copy of ‘Brave New World’ that he’d picked up at a second hand bookshop that day. 

As he was getting ready for bed, his phone buzzed one more time. 

_If you’d like, you could come over and sample my bees honey._

Castiel smiled at the little glowing screen. He was starting to like cellphones. 

_That would be lovely. :)_

They set a date for that weekend. Cain lived outside the city but not by too far, as soon as the sprawl of cookie cutter suburbia gave way to fields, he had a small farmhouse that sat on several acres where he tended his beehives and his impressive gardens. Castiel parked on the side of the rutted dirt road and took his time weaving through the sprawling vegetable garden that sat at the front of the house. Cain found him there, watching a ladybug in the lettuce patch. 

They spent most of the evening on the wide front porch to the house on wicker rockers chatting, with tea and biscuits that were smeared with honey. Castiel doesn’t think he’s ever tasted honey like this, thickly sweet but with an unmistakeable tanginess. Cain harvested and jarred his honey in little glass pots with blue and white checkered tops and handwritten labels, selling them at a farmer’s market with his surplus produce whenever he had enough to justify the trip in to town. 

Castiel thought he had lovely handwriting. 

Being that they lived about an hour away from each other, their communication was mostly via text but at least every two or three weeks they would make space for a Saturday together. One date canoeing, one day spent antiquing, one dinner and a theatre show later and Cain asked Castiel if he’d like to meet the bees. 

Castiel drove out to the farm and they gardened for a while side by side while they caught up. Cain loaned him a beekeeper’s suit, fidgeting around Castiel to make sure that everything was in place and Castiel could’t help leaning in to the other man’s hands. But then, they were outside again, the sun a little too warm under the suit, but Castiel was a rapt audience as Cain showed him the boxed hives for his bees that he had made by hand, explaining the process and the anatomy of the boxes while the bees buzzed around them, busy wingbeats a happy drone in the background. 

Now, Castiel was a fairly cautious man who like to weigh the consequences of his actions and only took very calculated risks. He could be given to bouts of spontaneity, but not frequently. What made him act, he wasn’t certain, but it surely wasn’t the most opportune time for it. Cain had been lively as he was happy for an interested audience, the bees lazily investigating them, perhaps it was the heat under the suit going to his head. But when Cain placed a hand at the small of his back to draw his attention to something, Castiel turned in to it and pressed a little closer. Through the mesh fall around their faces he saw Cain’s lips parted on something he was going to say and failed to. And he didn’t think for a second that yes, they were still wearing their beekeepers hats when he pressed forward, intent on a kiss. 

Of course, reality was still there whether Castiel was living in it or not. The brims of their hats bumped as the mesh rustled and Cain only smiled at his awkward miscalculation before pressing his hand a little more firmly against Castiel’s back, then continuing his lecture. 

But it wasn’t even three weeks later that Castiel was back at his farm to watch a meteor shower and this time it went much more smoothly without the mesh falls in the way. They had a simple picnic on the lawn, back aways from the house where there was a pond that bordered Cain’s property and corn fields. They watched the sunset and split a bottle of wine between them, with fresh fruits and homemade seed bread. 

They didn’t always spend their time talking, the quiet between them a comfortable thing, content in shared experience and companionship as the they watched the colors shift through the sky and the lightning bugs start their courtship in indigo dusk.  Cain’s touch against his cheek startled Castiel at first. But it was easy to turn in to. Much easier this time, to press their lips together. A light kiss, chaste, but lingering. The warmth of Cain’s breath against his cheek, the roughness of work calloused palms cupping his jaw, the tickle of that full beard against his chin. 

Castiel could feel heat blooming under his cheeks as Cain withdrew smiling. They lay back on the warm wool blanket over soft earth, hands clasped together, and watched the stars streak the sky in silver. 

Castiel did not mind technology at all, even if he was a little slow on the ‘up and up’. It could be amazing for bringing people together.


End file.
